The Other Man
by lavender ice
Summary: Georgie's got a crush. And I have issues, I believe...


Title: The Other Man  
Author: lavender ice  
Author e-mail: lavender_ice77@hotmail.com  
Ship: George/Hermione  
Genre: Angst/Romance  
Archive: Go for it. Just tell me where.   
  
Disclaimer: Characters belong to JK Rowling. Song is by Sloan. It's a cool song. Better than this fic makes it out to be, anyway. :\   
  
A/N: I'm hot, sick, and bored out of my mind. Forgive me for being rather insane at the moment. Ah, this one's for the S.S. Dungbombs and S.P.E.W, even if you don't want to admit to knowing me after this. :)   
  
  
  
_ You know he's not the one for you but that's no fault of mine  
He knows that I'm a friend of yours but doesn't know I've crossed the line  
I know you've got a man in the picture but it hasn't stopped me yet  
We've all be in one situation or another we regret _   
  
We were sitting by the fireplace. I was, of course, loosing a game of chess to Ron. Not that that surprised me all. I mean, this is guy might as well be dubbed the Hogwarts Chess King for all anyone was able to beat him. But anyway, that's when it happened. She had been alternating between reading _Hogwarts, A History _and watching us play/reprimanding us (more acurately, me) for our language. Hey, it's not my fault that I was loosing. I have a very fragile ego, you know. Besides, this was Ron. She wasn't going to yell at him for something as pidly as cursing. He was her boyfriend, and in her eyes, he was a God. It's good for his ego, I think, when she looks at him like that. Unfortunatly for me, the same thing causes me to toss my cookies. Figuratively speaking, of course. I don't 'toss my cookies.' I am a man. Well, sort of. I'm more of a man than Ron is, anyway.   
  
Oh yeah. I guess you're sort of wondering what happened, right? Yeah. Well, nothing, really, at that exact moment. But I noticed that she'd been watching me. It was probably just my overactive -and quite hormonal- imagination.   
  
So anyway, I lost the game. Alright, toss the confetti, break out the music, dance the Funky Wave Chicken Walk for all I give a damn. It's not as if he doesn't win a chess game every single day. Sighing, I slunk back in my chair and watched him pick her up and twirl her around. Bastard. My eyes met hers, and for a split second, her smile faltered. Quick as a flash, it was back again. Damn imagination. Or maybe not...   
  
When he finally let her down, the first words out of her mouth were "I have to go to the library." She continued on that vien, something about an Arithmancy test. I didn't really pay attention until I heard him offer to go with her.   
  
"Don't be silly, Ron, you know I never get any work done when you're around."   
  
I shuddered to think of what that meant. Were they really... Nah, can't be, I thought to myself. She's not that kind of girl. Then again, what do I know? Well, I know that he eventually gave up and stayed in the Common Room, looking rather dejected. Personally, I was satisfied with this arrangement. Almost.   
  
I got up with every intention of following her. Unfortunatly, my wonderful little brother had other ideas. "Another game?" he asked me.   
  
"Uh, no." Turning away, I soon found out that Ron wasn't going to take that.   
  
"Where you going?"   
  
Dammit. "The kitchens. I'm hungry."   
  
"Well, I'll come with you. Nothing better to do."   
  
"Where's Harry?" I asked, getting rather desperate. Ron shrugged his shoulders. "Go find him. He probably needs some fun in his life right about now." I couldn't believe I was that desperate to get rid of him that I was using Voldemort as a tactic. Pathetic, really.   
  
"Alright," he said, glancing at me suspiciously. I tried to look innocent. Honestly, you'd think I'd have this down by now, what with all the trouble Fred and I get into, but no.   
  
Finally, Ron left to find Harry, and I took off after her. I figured she'd have reached the library by now, and I was right. There she was, hunched over a large volume that, even from my distance, looked intimidating. It's now or never, I told myself as I made my way across the room to where she was. I got all the way to her table before my nerves hit.   
  
"Hi," I said. Rather, I croaked. I sounded as if I had a very large frog jumping round my throat playing Leap Frog with my vocal cords. I winced. What an impression. She looked up at me, and was quite evidently surprised to see it was me.   
  
"Oh, hello," she replied. Awkward, awkward, awkward. I stood, staring down at her, while her neck was at an unhealthy angle looking at me.   
  
Think, Weasley, think. "Uh, can I sit down?"   
  
"Go ahead." She pointed to the chair next to her. "Is something wrong?"   
  
"Er, no, not really." Idiot, idiot, idiot. I sat there, watching her, for awhile. I think it bothered her, because she didn't seem to be doing anything productive. Finally, she turned to me.   
  
"What is it?"   
  
"Huh? Nothing." Dork, dork, dork.   
  
"Then why are you here, George?" she asked patiently, though I could tell she was begining to get irritated. Even I knew that this was a bad thing.   
  
C'mon, big guy, I told myself. Now or never. Now or never. Just do it. And I did. I leaned over, and I kissed her.   
  
And then I ran away. Not quite the manliest thing I've ever done. But, I did it nonetheless. I got all the way back to the Common Room, then ran up to my dorm, praying it was empty. It was, thankfully. I don't know if I could have handled Lee and Fred right about now. Briefly, I wondered where they were. Not that it mattered.   
  
Leaning back on my bed, I began to realize just what I had done. And I began to come to terms with the fact that I was in big trouble. What if Ron found out? What if she hated me? What if she smaked me? (Hey, I'd heard things about the force of her slap, and I didn't really want to be the next victim.)   
  
_Now I'm the other man, no one's rooting for me  
If I'm the other man, nature will unpour me  
You know I want to keep my distance but it happened anyway  
He knows you're going to drift apart and there's nothing he can say  
I know he's a send of God, but that's none of my concern  
We've all been in one situation or other it's my turn  
To be the other man, no one sympathizes  
When you're the other man, that everyone despises_   
  
To top it all off, I couldn't really talk to anyone about it. I could just hear Fred now. "What the bloody hell were you thinking?" It was official: I was cornered. I tried looking on the bright side; it was April. Only about two months left to go, and then I was officially a Hogwarts graduate. Scary.   
  
Great. Two months. But what the hell was I going to do between now and then? Just pretend it didn't happen? Talk to her? Kiss her again? Avoid her? Personally, I was all for the last one, but knew that it wasn't likely. Meals, and the whole same-house thing sort of put a strain on that possibility, and I knew it. But I tried it anyway.   
  
Needless to say, I didn't suceed long. About an hour and seven minutes, to be exact. Then Fred and Lee came back and dragged me downstairs. Turns out, it was the shortest library trip she'd ever taken. Also needless to say, it was awkward. I kept looking at her, but everytime she looked back, I turned away. Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic. As soon as I could, I got away.   
  
_ He's going to find out that the rumours are true  
Though they're still unbeknownst to you  
He'll find so I'll tell you because you've got to find out before he does  
I know you've got a man in the picture but that hasn't stopped me yet  
We've all been in one situation or another we regret  
Now I'm the other man, no one's rooting for me  
If I'm the other man, nature will unpour me_   
  
I got away, alright. And ran right into the rumour mill. Turns out some punk named Colin Creevy had seen me kissing her in the library. Of course, since he had a reputation for being a hyperactive brat (so Harry told me), he had blabbed. Now, the whole damn school knew. And I was in trouble. More.   
  
Racing back to the Common Room, I was relieved to find her alone. I ran over to her, and she started to turn away. But I was determined. She had to know that the whole school knew, and I thought she better learn it from me. Even if it was extremely uncomfortable. Dammit. Why'd I kiss her in the first place?   
  
So I told her. She didn't take it well. In fact, she downright flipped out. Part of me hoped it was denial. Most of me knew better. I made it a point to stay a good distance away from her, in case her hand should want to connect with my face. (Thankfully, it didn't.) I asked her what we were going to tell Ron, and she told me:   
  
"_We_ are going to tell him nothing. _I_ am going to make up something. We'll just pretend this didn't happen, and forget about it. Got it?"   
  
Yep. Over and out, I got ya, sister. I don't know what excuse she fed Ron, but he bought it. Figures. He's sort of naive, to say the least. That, and she's got him under control beautifully, truth be told.   
  
I decided soon after that I needed a piece of chocolate cake to drown myself in. So, once again, I left the Common Room. This time, I actually made it to the kitchens. I was just about to tickle the pear when I saw her running towards me. I stopped, finger posed, and stared at her. She was flushed from the run, making her even more beautiful. When she reached me, I started to apologize. "Hermione, I-"   
  
She interupted me. Quite forcefully, I might add. But I enjoyed it. I suppose 'interupted' isn't really the proper word. More like 'impared my speech capabilities.' (In case you haven't figured it out, she kissed me.)   
  
"What were you going to say?" she asked when we finally broke apart.   
  
"Uh..." Stupid, stupid, stupid.   
  
"Obviously, it wasn't important." I shook my head. She smiled. "Good."   
  
"Uh..." Oh yeah, did I mention that I have a strong vocabulary? Really, I do. "What about Ron?" I choked out.   
  
She kissed me again. Yeah, that's what I thought. Mentally, I did the Funky Wave Chicken Walk. Mentally. Breaking away briefly, I took a deep breath and said: "You'll always be my tumbleweed, Bobetta."   
  
_ Now I'm the other man, no one symapthizes  
When your the other man everyone despises  
We've all been in one situation or another  
We've all been in one situation or another  
We've all been in one situation or antoher_


End file.
